The Girl That Everybody Left
by FullTimeFriendPartTimeLover
Summary: Pailey drama following Paige's departure for California in 5x14, Through A Glass, Darkly. This is my first piece of writing that I have submitted and would greatly appreciate any and all comments or advice. Take care!
1. Chapter 1: The Girl That Everybody Left

Standing alone at Gate 23 watching Paige walk away, Emily's heart shattered. She stood blankly replaying what had just happened in her head. The tears that she determinedly held back in front of her girlfriend were now running uncontrollably down her face. She stumbled onto a ripped blue chair afraid that her body was going to give out like her heart just had. Starring out into the starry night watching the planes depart taking people on-board far away from Rosewood she thought to herself:_ Paige was gone, Alison was gone, Maya was gone. She was officially the girl that everybody left. _

A few weeks passed and as per normal, or at least what Emily now perceived to be normal, the A drama persisted. A change fell over Emily in the weeks following Paige's departure. She seemed stronger, spoke with more conviction, and was more hell-bent on ending A's game. When her friends questioned her change in demeanour Emily simply responded that she needed to protect the only people in her life that didn't leave her. But through this new-found strength a sense of hurt radiated. Emily was not lying to her friends. She did mean to protect them. Everything felt more important now, like there was more on the line. Ending A's reign over her life was no longer a game, it was the only way to make Rosewood a safe place so that Paige could come back home.

Across the country, Paige was beginning her third week in California and she was completely overwhelmed. She remembered Emily telling her stories of her constant moving due to her Dads job in the armed forces; stories of new schools and new friends. Unlike Emily she had never moved before this, this was supposed to be her new beginning … her fresh start. Since she had enough credits to graduate she didn't have to attend high school in her new city. Instead, to keep from going crazy unpacking all of the boxes in her family's new house, she got a job lifeguarding at a YMCA pool. It was a very big town, nothing compared to Rosewood, and it was hot year-round so there was pretty much always somebody in the pool. She had already saved two old ladies doing pool aerobics from drowning. But no matter now busy her job keep her, her mind never wandered far from what Emily was doing at any given moment. She had been too afraid to call her girlfriend, merely the sound of Emily's voice let alone the hearing her beg Paige to come back would immediately break her resolve and send her right back into the dangers of Rosewood. _It had been a couple weeks though_, Paige thought to herself as she adjusted the bright red lifeguard bathing suit that they only had two sizes too small. _One small text just too see if she is okay. How bad could that go? _Immediately determining that her intuition was correct, Paige pulled out her phone from her backpack she kept near the edge of the pool. She carefully composed a text to Emily that read, _Hey. It's been awhile. How've you been?_

It was 3:21pm and Emily was just getting out of school. After saying goodbye to her friends she walked to the school parking lot, got into her car and plugged her phone into the USB drive in her speaker system. Just before pulling out of the lot, she heard a beep on her phone. Texts nowadays were usually a means for concern so she put her car back into park and braced herself for the next insult from her nemesis, A. But instead she found a text from Paige. Her heart raced, which she immediately found strange considering the amount of texts that they had exchanged between the pair of them over the years. It was a simple text, nothing special, no news of her new life or confessions of love. Just a simple greeting. Emily's mind raced and she figured that she should conduct herself a bit before responding so she continued on her drive to work trying not to completely overreact. Once she got to the Brew, the coffee shop she was barista at, she noticed a line of angry customers circling the inside of the shop. Apparently her co-worker had a bit of an accident with the cappuccino machine leading to a trip to the ER and they were running short on staff since this morning. It remained busy until around 8:00pm when Emily was finishing her shift. It was then that her mind stopped thinking about iced mocha lattes and chai green teas that she remembered the text from earlier. Without thinking she pressed her speed-dial to call her girlfriend just as she had done a thousand times before. A few seconds later she had realized what she had done and went to hang up anonymously when she heard a familiar sound on the other side of the call, "Hello?"

Paige hadn't had the heart to let the phone call from her girlfriend go to voicemail, so instead she snuck outside onto the front porch steps of her new Californian home, took a deep breath and answered the call. Emily seemed startled when Paige first answered and Paige imagined that she didn't think she would pick up. Immediately regretting her decision, Paige heard Emily say "Ummm … Hey". And with that Paige knew she was screwed.


	2. Chapter 2: Home

Paige swallowed hard, which was not missed by Emily who was now slightly sweating through her old swimming hoodie. Both of the girls nerves were building as the silence blasted through the air waves. And just like in Emily's car all of those years before, Paige bravely made the first move.

"How've you been?" asked Paige, trying not to press for too much information regarding Alison, although she was dying to hear more than what the Rosewood Observer Online was releasing.

"I've been … okay." Emily responded. Not knowing how much detail to divulge regarding the Alison trial seeing as the A drama is what led Paige to leave Rosewood in the first place. "How's California? Are you all settled in to your new_ home_."

As soon as the last sentence left Emily's mouth she knew that Paige would take it the wrong way. It wasn't meant to be malicious, California was her new home. No matter how many times Emily has dreamt that her girlfriend was still a bike ride away, the truth was that she wasn't and saying it out loud seemed to help that reality sink in.

Paige responded, "You know this isn't my _real_ home." She paused, thinking of the perfect words to make it better. "I really did have the best of everything when I was there with you. It is so hard here Em. I'm not sure that I can do this alone but I feel like I have to. If we keep talking like nothing has changed ..." She could feel herself starting to get choked up as tears were welling threatening to drown her face.

Emily was taken aback. She hated the sound of her girlfriend crying, especially when she was too far away to hold her in her arms and make it better. It felt like the dizzy spell you get when you are holding your breath underwater for too long. Like life is slowly slipping away and as much as your body tries to fight it, there isn't anything you can do. She hated that feeling … feeling hopeless. Emily, thinking of what to say, knew she had let the silence linger to long. "You left, Paige. You left, Alison left, Maya left. Everybody leaves me."

That was enough to drive Paige from crying to full blown meltdown. She couldn't censor herself anymore. Half talking, half sobbing Paige responded, "That's not fair Em, I didn't leave _you_. I left _Rosewood_."

"Then how come you haven't responded to any of my texts Paige?" Emily snapped angrily.

"Because I didn't want_ this_." Paige broke, "I didn't want to remind myself how far away you are and how I can't hold you and kiss you or even be near you. I can't see your cute, drowsy little face when you wake up in the morning or sneak around Rosewood high making out in the empty classrooms. All I have is the past. Memories of Christmas shirts and cowboy hats and concerts and swimming and thinking of that breaks my heart. I wanted a future with you. That was all I ever wanted. I didn't think it could hurt anymore than it did at the airport but it does. Talking to you reminds of the things that I gave up and it kills me."

Emily froze. She couldn't hold back her tears hearing her girlfriend admit that she still cared. That's all she ever wanted too. She wanted to be the person that somebody would stick around for. "I love you, Paige." Emily said softly.

Between gasps of tears Paige whispered "I love you too Em. Always have always will." Finally catching her breath Paige said, "You know this place isn't too bad but it isn't my home, Fields. You're my home."

And with that Emily knew it would be okay. It wouldn't be easy, nothing in her life ever was anymore. But it was worth the fight. And if there was one thing that was worth fighting for, it was her home.


End file.
